It is still a two man race, but the potential of a Huck assist to Rudy is fading. The significance of even an Iowa win for Huckabee will be downgraded after the AIDs quarantine fiasco and the continued focus on Huckanomics. Romney could even get the lead back in Iowa, which after the Huck surge would be a dramatic win, but a second place keeps him in the race and poised for New Hampshire and Michigan wins. Rudy’s strong performance on MTP makes the mayor the natural strong second choice for most Romney voters. Rudy needs the McCain votes in New Hampshire and South Carolina and Romney wants the Huck voters there.

Florida is going to see a lot of ads over the Christmas break.

I think the ability to reach people with a political diminishes greatly after this week, which is why the Des Moines Register debate will get a huge audience of GOP interesteds, and why Romney’s MTP appearance next Sunday is nicely timed, provided he does as well as Rudy did. This is also the week that all the trash gets taken out if indeed there is any more to dump on any of them.